Heartland Express Inc key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Heartland Express Inc had return on equity of -6.6%, an operating margin of -7.1%, debt equal to 21.2% of equity and a current ratio of 1.04. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Heartland Express Inc: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2009Dec 2009	2010Dec 2010	2011Dec 2011	2012Dec 2012	2013Dec 2013	2014Dec 2014	2015Dec 2015	2016Dec 2016	2017Dec 2017	2018Dec 2018	2019Dec 2019	2020Dec 2020	2021Dec 2021	2022Dec 2022	2023Dec 2023	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMJun 2026
Operating margin	17.2%	18.3%	20.2%	17.4%	19.3%	15.1%	15.8%	14.0%	10.5%	14.7%	15.8%	14.5%	17.4%	19.5%	3.5%	−1.9%	−7.1%	−2.3%
Net margin	12.4%	12.5%	13.2%	11.3%	12.1%	9.7%	9.9%	9.2%	12.4%	11.9%	12.2%	11.0%	13.1%	13.8%	1.2%	−2.8%	−6.5%	—
Free-cash-flow margin	4.8%	16.8%	−5.1%	6.5%	−4.1%	−3.7%	−3.6%	11.4%	−12.3%	−3.7%	−2.9%	−3.9%	−1.5%	3.5%	−3.6%	3.3%	−8.3%	−11.6%
Return on equity	15.5%	17.7%	20.7%	19.5%	20.5%	19.4%	15.4%	11.6%	13.9%	12.2%	11.2%	10.1%	10.9%	16.9%	1.7%	−3.5%	−6.6%	—
Return on assets	10.3%	11.8%	13.6%	12.4%	11.8%	11.4%	9.8%	7.6%	9.8%	9.1%	8.6%	7.7%	8.4%	10.3%	0.9%	−2.1%	−4.2%	—
Asset turnover	0.83	0.94	1.02	1.10	0.98	1.17	0.98	0.83	0.80	0.77	0.70	0.70	0.65	0.75	0.76	0.74	0.64	0.62
Current ratio	2.65	3.96	4.67	4.22	1.63	2.20	2.06	3.08	2.27	3.59	2.39	2.72	3.26	1.47	1.37	1.08	1.04	1.58
Debt to equity	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	18.9%	5.2%	0.0%	0.0%	3.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	48.3%	34.7%	24.4%	21.2%	17.8%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	89.6x	—	—	22.0x	1.8x	n/m	n/m	n/m
Effective tax rate	30.0%	33.0%	34.8%	35.6%	37.3%	35.5%	37.4%	34.5%	−16.6%	20.9%	24.9%	24.9%	25.2%	26.2%	25.6%	—	—	—
Capital spending as % of revenue	17.2%	2.9%	23.9%	12.2%	23.2%	23.5%	29.5%	14.0%	30.3%	27.7%	27.4%	31.7%	21.8%	16.6%	17.3%	10.5%	19.4%	22.3%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	38.6%	135.1%	−38.9%	57.5%	−33.9%	−38.3%	−36.7%	123.6%	−99.2%	−31.3%	−23.9%	−36.0%	−11.6%	25.6%	−293.3%	—	—	—
Dividends ÷ net income	12.8%	11.7%	10.2%	11.2%	9.8%	8.3%	9.4%	11.9%	8.9%	9.1%	9.0%	9.2%	57.9%	4.7%	42.6%	—	—	—
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	239.6%	8.7%	—	87.9%	—	—	—	30.7%	—	—	—	—	—	18.5%	—	39.0%	—	—

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Heartland Express Inc: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2024 Q3Sept 2024	2024 Q4Dec 2024	2025 Q1Mar 2025	2025 Q2Jun 2025	2025 Q3Sept 2025	2025 Q4Dec 2025	2026 Q1Mar 2026	2026 Q2Jun 2026
Operating margin	−2.7%	0.4%	−6.8%	−5.9%	−3.7%	−12.7%	−1.9%	9.0%
Net margin	−3.6%	—	−6.3%	−5.2%	−4.2%	—	−2.7%	5.7%
Free-cash-flow margin	9.5%	−18.8%	1.0%	−6.1%	−6.2%	−24.6%	2.9%	−18.8%
Current ratio	1.17	1.08	0.90	0.95	1.14	1.04	1.27	1.58
Debt to equity	25.0%	24.4%	24.7%	24.7%	23.9%	21.2%	20.0%	17.8%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

3 of 6 checks passed · June 30, 2026

What it owns · $1.2bn

Short-term assets $186mLonger-term assets $989m

What it owes, and who funded it · $874m

Short-term liabilities $117mShareholders' equity $756m

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $186m of assets due within a year against $117m of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities Not assessable from the reported split. Not assessable.
More cash than debt $62m of cash against $135m of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 18% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 0% to 18% over five years.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $78m of operating cash flow against $135m of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of −$17m against $10m of interest.

From Heartland Express Inc's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

48 /100

Moderate moat

How hard Heartland Express's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 15 / 20

Net income has been a median 9.4% of total assets over 10 years.
Durability 3 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 11.1%; its worst year was -3.6%.
Cash conversion 3 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 3 of 10 years, at a median -2.2% of revenue.
Discipline 18 / 20

The diluted share count fell 3.9% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.2% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

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Figures from Heartland Express Inc's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 29, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Heartland Express Inc.